What is biodiversity?
Chris Thomas and Emma Marris in conversation as part of the York Festival of Ideas.
Delve into the topic of biodiversity and discover the nuanced relationships between humanity and nature with acclaimed environmental writer Emma Marris and Chris Thomas, Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity.
Human activities have caused the world’s physical and biological processes to change so significantly that we increasingly think of Earth as having entered a new geological epoch - the ‘Anthropocene’.
This disruption has resulted in the extinction of many species, but the Anthropocene is also a time of biological gains and it may eventually be considered one of the greatest boosts to biological diversity in history. It is important to understand the causes and consequences of biodiversity gains and losses, and to use this knowledge to inform and influence how society responds.
Join Chris and Emma as they discuss biodiversity, tackling challenging questions such as: Are humans causing new species to come into existence? And do negative and positive human attitudes to different species have any impact on their fates?